June 14, 2010

8th Edition play testing feedback

Well it appears that a number of people have begun to play test 8th Edition Warhammer Fantasy. Found some reasonable summaries among the most informative was this one from http://ineptusgameus.blogspot.com/

Movement

The phases are all in the same order, so magic is not the first phase!

I didn't get to see this phase too well as everything was set up to fight but it seems that movement is similar to War of the Ring/Fast Cav so units can slide or shuffle around on the board

Shooting

Everything with a missile weapon can shoot in two ranks.

If you have a bow you can volley fire which the unit can shoot with more ranks (I'm not too sure if it's one or more

If the unit is on a hill the only shooting benefit is for LOS

Speaking of LOS, everything is true line of sight!

These changes seem pretty sensible does give your missile troops a boost in that you can leave them in 2 ranks meaning units of 10 get a couple bonuses in combat and don't lose a round of shooting when they have to reform to take a charge. Will also mean that deployment will change as your missile troops now take up less space allowing me to put say 2 units of Quarrellers in a space normally taken up by 1 unit.

Charging and Close Combat

LOS arcs are the same for everything now - everything has a 90 degree LOS

Charging is indeed now base move plus 2D6 (or 3D6 if you are move 7 or more

You make your charge reaction before the charging unit moves and you can measure the distance between the two units

Failed Fear tests make a unit WS1

ASF + Higher Initiative grants re-rolls

Close combat is done in Initiative Order now

Not quite sure what the LOS changes will do although giving everyone the same LOS seems a good idea, hoping that LOS remains B2B and hasn't gone where Warmachine used to be which is "If you can see a bit of the model you can see the model" this penalised people whose models had extra bits and who added more detailing to their units.

Re-rolls for ASF High Elves I like. Close combat strictly in initiative order will really change how people move their troops now, as will choosing flee as a charge reaction. Where in 7th Edition fleeing was often a very viable strategy here the random 2D6 element makes it very very risky.

The second rank can attack now in close combat but only gets one attack.

Cavalry units benefit from this but only the riders in the second rank can attack Spears attack in an additional rank as well as the second rank. So spear armed units can attack with three ranks

Rank Bonus - Still 5 models to get a rank bonus but Ogre sized units get it from 3 or more models

Horde Rule - Basicly double the number of models needed to claim a rank bonus and you get an additional rank to fight with (so 10 wide for infantry or 6 wide for ogre sized models

Stomp! - Ogre sized models get an additional attack after their attacks while larger models get d6 additional attack

You can wound anything with a to wound roll of 6! So S1 can wound a T10 model

I like these changes the 3 model rank bonus for large monsters makes a lot of sense. The horde rule will really benefit Skaven and Goblin armies. 2nd rank attacking will make combat extremely interesting and for my High Elves along with the ASF rule will mean that Spears will get to attack in 4 ranks with re-rolls!!! Wounding anything on a 6??? Mmmm makes the bigger monsters less scary but then you still have to hit them don't you and even after you wound them they still get a save.

War Machines and Monster and Handlers are different in combat now. When fighting you hit the WM or Monster as the crew hide behind them in CC (so you wound the WM or Monster). This info is a bit vague as I can't remember the details as we got disturbed when he was explaining and then moved on to the next thing.

Outnumber is gone!

If you lose a combat but have more ranks then the enemy you are stubborn

Fleeing is a bit different now. If you are Move 7 or more you roll 3d6 but discard the lowest dice

If you flee through a enemy unit you take d6 hits instead

If you wipe a unit out then you may take a leadership test to redirect into another unit near the flee path

Outnumber going is great got so tired of having a unit outnumbered by 1 Skeleton running because it was outnumbered. Although I had heard that outnumber would add +1CR. Not quite sold on the Stubborn rule means that units like Hammerers and White Lions lose a special ability that really makes them worthwhile. Other changes will need playtesting to see what they do for me.

War machines

Guessing is gone. Place where you want the shot to go and scatter as normal

Templates are now like the Skaven ones - ie no more partials

No partials me like makes things so much easier. Not sure how the guessing thing goes and how exactly does a Cannon Ball going in a straight line scatter???

Magic

Generating Power Dice is indeed 2D6 and the opponent gets the highest dice as his dispel dice

All wizards can channel more power dice or dispel dice on a roll of 6

You are capped at 12 power dice

All the core spell decks have seven spells

Picking spells is as per 7th but you may always default to the 'zero' if you don't like what you picked, plus no wizard may know the same spell as another wizard in your army. So no more two lvl1 fire mages knowing fireball each

This is a HUGE change and is really going to make things interesting.

You can roll up to 6 dice to cast a spell for any level

You add your magic level to your casting or dispell roll

A natural 1 or 2 is a failed cast (which limits single casting)

You miscast on a double six now but the spell goes off and the wizard takes damage as he struggles with the backlash of magic

Miscasts range from bad to really bad - So a double one is a big 5" template centred on the wizard and everything takes a S10 hit

I like these changes but I am guessing that Vampire Counts players wont as they can't continuously spam Invocation of Nehek from multiple casters (as only 1 mage can use it) and using 1 dice to do it is going to hurt them eventually. Wondering how the no-duplication of spells thing works if I have 2 HE Mages who both take High Magic do they both get the extra spell "Drain Magic" or does only one of them get it?

Overall the changes look great going to mean a substantial shift in playing styles for a lot of people, and for my Dwarfs really really adds an extra dimension with the 2D6 charge range making my guys much more mobile. Just waiting on the PDF erratas for each army book now.